Our statement of purpose
Our Learning Vision
We aspire for each and every student to succeed.
Our Learning Purpose
We believe in One Student, One Community, Many Futures.
Every student deserves a GREAT teacher, not by chance but, by design. It is this philosophy that drives the school’s actions to engage young people in the highest quality of learning. This philosophy is lived in our learning purpose, as outlined below.
One student is about:
- Creating a ‘school for one’ by catering for the learning needs, interests and aspirations of each and every student
- Students engaging and accessing the highest quality learning through:
- Academy Programs of Excellence in the fields of sport, the arts and academic excellence.
- Providing subject pathways, programs and other learning experiences that reflect students' strengths and areas of growth to ensure students are best positioned to succeed.
- Prioritising and supporting the connection between well-being and learning to provide for the psychological, emotional and social needs of our students.
One community is about:
- Our school as an innovative learning community with an unrelenting focus on, and a commitment to, the learning of each student
- Very high expectations of the school community for learning, presentation and behaviour
- Our school as a hub of learning in our community and our parents and carers feeling welcome, supported, connected and frequently engaging as partners to improve student wellbeing and learning
- Creating an overwhelming sense of positivity, optimism and future orientation within our students and school community.
- Partnering with organisations in our local community, extending the focus of student learning and wellbeing beyond the school gate.
Many futures is about:
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Preparing our students for the future by engaging our students in thinking classrooms
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Ensuring every student transitions from our school with a viable pathway to the future because together we delivered on our ‘qualification guarantee’.
- Our students accessing a range of subjects catering for the diversity of student learning styles and aspirations.
Helensvale State High School’s purpose clearly articulates the school’s driving force across all aspects of schooling. From the pedagogical framework, the professional development of staff, the writing of curriculum documents, to the programs and support offered at the school are espoused by the school’s aspiration of all students being able to succeed.
Our Learning Values
We value respect, responsibility, resilience.
We believe that our learning values need to be explicitly modelled and taught every day within our school community. Our students, staff and families are encouraged to uphold our School Wide Positive Learning Behaviours (PB4L) of:
Responsible Learner: Follow directions without debate (as it is about time and place)
Resilient Learner: To never, ever give up the will to learn
Home of the Hawks
“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings" (Wardle, 2014).
At Helensvale, we believe anything is possible.
For more than 30 years, Helensvale State High School has set a standard of excellence as 'One Community'. Here, we are proud of all of our students and their individual achievements – big or small. Some of our high achieving alumni have even become household names, excelling in their chosen fields: academia, sport, arts, media and technology to name a few. These legacies serve as inspiration to our students because like them, these alumni built their foundation at Helensvale State High School. It was from here they spread their wings and launched onto the pathway that led to the dizzying heights of their success.
Underpinning the solid education our school provides, teaching and learning occurs through the lens of our values: respect, responsibility and resilience - essential qualities for success during our students' time here and beyond.
Our values form the bedrock upon which students, supported by our school community, can build the skills and qualities they need to achieve their goals in a rapidly changing, global society.
We create a learning environment that supports and empowers students to soar towards their chosen career paths.
This concept of our students taking flight, as confident, mature young citizens ready to make their mark on the world, inspired our school mascot, the hawk.
As a school, we see the hawk as a powerful symbol for our students. This remarkable bird represents many of the attributes we aspire to nurture in our students. Like the hawk our students show: strength, courage, stamina, self-belief, broad nuanced perspectives, independence, and of course our three Rs. Hawks are respected for their intelligence and power; hawks take their responsibilities seriously; hawks are resilient and determined in the face of adversity.
